Be Safe
by DreamStar37
Summary: Reeling back, Neil more heard then felt his back hit the wall as he slid down to the floor. The note... the last thing Eva 'said' to him... He'd forgotten to tell her to "be safe"
1. Deer in Headlights

Everyday before Eva left work, Neil would tell her to "be safe!" It became almost like a ritual, something to look forward to at the end of a hard day. So, when no sound came from Neil's office, Eva worried. He didn't like anyone entering unannounced but... with a sigh, she pushed the door open.

The office lights were off, the only light coming from the computer screen. Scattered papers covered his desk, scrawled notes that only made half sense, an empty cup that used to contain coffee. In the center of the chaos, sat her partner.

Neil lay asleep, sprawled over his keyboard snoring softly, glasses askew. She couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight. He had been working so hard lately, it was good to see him resting. Even if it was in his office instead of a bed, like normal people slept in. Deep down, she was worried.

...Not that she'd tell him any of this, he'd never let her live it down. Walking up to stand next to him, she gently shook his shoulder.

"Hey... C'mon moron, you shouldn't be sleeping at work..."

He shifted slightly, mumbling something incoherent before settling back into sleep. With a sigh, she rubbed her own tired eyes in frustration. This wasn't going to work.

One hurried note later, Eva found herself standing at the door to Neil's office again. With a final glance back, it was time to go home.

It was a new moon tonight, the sky hung pitch black above her. Her night vision had never been the best, it usually wasn't a problem as she went home before sunset. She'd been staying at the office later recently, covering for Neil. The extra paperwork was a hassle, but at least it meant he could get more sleep. As soon as he was feeling better though, he so owed her one.

For now though, she just had to focus on not falling asleep at the wheel... Maybe this was a mistake, she really shouldn't be driving right now.

No matter how much she shook her head, her vision remained out of focus. Come on Eva... driving isn't that hard, just keep the wheel straight, foot on the pedal, watch out for-

Eva jerked awake just as a deer shot in front of the car, swerving violently to the side, right into the path of a semi truck. Blinded by the lights, she attempted to block the light with her arm. She felt just as much like a deer in headlights as the literal deer staring at her from the other side of the road.

Time seemed to move in slow motion, the sound of her car crunching on impact making her head ache. As the car rolled into the ditch, glass shattering all around her, apples tumbling out of the glove box... a couple thoughts stood out in her panicked mind.

One; Her car was definitely totaled.

Two; She hated that deer with a vengeance, but at least it wasn't a squirrel.

Three; Who was going to look after Neil...

...Eva's thoughts slowed to a crawl, as she hung upside down, suspended by her seat belt. Everything hurt, it was hard to breath, to think... The edges of her vision were tinged black, white stars danced and died before her. She thought she heard distant shouting coming from outside, but couldn't understand the words... The pain had subsided, her limbs felt heavy and numb. Blood had pooled below her, reflecting back a face she no longer recognized.

As she drifted into unconsciousness, one last thought whispered sadly.

...Who was going to look after her...?

.

.

.

Neil awoke with a start, sitting up slowly. He really needs to stop falling asleep in his chair, his back was killing him... Glancing at the clock revealed it was 4:39 am, damn, guess he wasn't going home tonight. Might as well get back to work, or at least, games that made it look like he was working.

...Huh? A sticky note was stuck to the computer screen. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he squinted at the purple handwriting.

"I'm heading home, make sure you get more sleep! Be safe -Eva"

Hm, guess he was so tired he'd completely missed seeing her off... Oh well, he would just have to make sure to apologize when she arrived in the morning. With that thought, he loaded up a game.


	2. Grief

So. Bored. Neil glared at the clock, it was 11:41 am and Eva wasn't at work yet. He'd played all the games he owned, some of them multiple times, but nothing was really catching his interest. A small seed of concern had sprouted in his chest, and he shoved it back mercilessly.

Eva was fine. She probably just overslept or something. She'd been overworking herself recently, deciding to do his paperwork for him instead of letting him procrastinate until the last minute. He appreciated it but at the same time, the dark circles under her eyes worried him.

...Not that he'd ever let her know he was worried, he had to maintain his nonchalant attitude after all.

Maybe to make it up to her, he could suggest they go to the aquarium or something. She might like that, he just had to ask all casual, like he couldn't really care less. Yes, brilliant idea Neil, why thank you Neil. He nodded to himself, yep, he was awesome.

Another glance at the clock, 11:42 am, dangit.

Oh, his phone was ringing. Eva's number lit up on his screen, and he immediately hit call.

"Hey Dumpling, what's up?" He answered a little too fast.

"Hello, is this Neil Watts?" Neil narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the unfamiliar voice.

"...You're not Eva, who is this"

"This is St. Nicholas Hospital, a 'Neil Watts' was registered as the first emergency contact on this phone. Once again, are you Mr. Watts?"

What.

"...What, I mean uh, yeah... yeah this is Weil Natts, wait, Watts, Neil, yes" His hands were shaking, come to think of it, it wasn't just his hands. A shuddering feel accompanied every breath, his chest rattling emptily. It was getting hard to stand, he took a step back trying to keep his balance.

"Alright, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news Mr. Watts. Last night at approximately 2:30 am, Ms. Rosalene was involved in a car crash. She's in stable condition now, but hasn't woken up yet."

Neil felt something icy cold settle in his chest, freezing his heart solid. The feeling spread, until even the tips of his fingers felt chilled to the bone. Yet his mind raced, Eva, car crash, the note...

Realization hit him like the very same thing that had nearly killed his partner.

Reeling back, Neil more heard then felt his back hit the wall as he slid down to the floor.

The note... the last thing Eva 'said' to him...

He'd forgotten to tell her to "be safe" ...

This was all his fault, it was only two words and yet he couldn't even be bothered to wake up for her. It wasn't that hard, the little smile she always had when he said that... He-

Nonsense words were still sounding from his phone, left forgotten on the floor where he'd dropped it.

How long ago was that again? Was time even passing anymore, it felt like hours.

Neil cast a wary glance up at the clock once more... 11:47 am, fuck.

Crawling over to the discarded phone, he shakily held it back up to his ear.

"...huh?"

"I said, will you be coming in to visit her, Mr. Watts?" The voice sounded impatient, he didn't blame them.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm just gonna... be right over" Using the wall as leverage, he somehow managed to stand again. He felt the room spin, untethered from reality. Behind him was chaos, one misstep away from falling into a grief stricken spiral, he refused to look back. Denial had gotten him this far in life, this was no different, just another setback in the mess of his life.

The car keys cutting into the palm of his hand helped him focus. He could work later, right now he just needed to see Eva.

He would walk in, and she'd chide him for missing work. She would heal, come back to work, everything would be the same as it always was. He would take her to the aquarium on a totally-not-a-date date, and she would laugh in that way that made his heart flutter.

Everything would be fine, she would be fine.

The hallway outside his office was empty except for one other doctor. Freaking Robert.

Neil shuffled past him, head lowered and hoping he wouldn't be spotted.

"Neil where on Earth are you going?" Robert's dreaded voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Heading out, work to do" he grumbled under his breath, staring down the hall away from the other. Robert was staring at him now, whatever task he had been doing temporarily forgotten.

"Is this about Eva" it wasn't a question, Robert already seemed to know the answer.

He finally turned, looking Robert in the eyes. "...She's in the hospital, I'm just going to make sure she isn't stressing about not working. You got a problem with that?"

He was being standoffish, not enough energy to pretend to be nice.

Something in Robert's expression changed, ever so slightly. If Neil had blinked he would have missed it. He looked... concerned? His brows knitted together, the corners of his mouth down turned. Maybe he was just upset they were down two employees.

After a long pause, he spoke up "Alright, I understand... I'll cover for you today, just go check on her." Robert's voice concealed a subtle rumble, like he was straining to speak.

It was something Neil had never heard before from the older doctor.

With a nod, he briskly fled down the hall. Best to leave before Robert changed his mind, or any other coworkers decided to interrupt him.

The drive to the hospital went by in a blur, he wasn't really taking in anything around him.

A part of Neil knew this was risk taking behavior, driving wasn't exactly the best thing to do when panicking, unless he wanted to end up like Eva. 'That wouldn't be so bad' the selfish part of him whispered treacherously. 'Then we could be together, no need to worry if you're dead...'

He felt his fingers clench around the steering wheel, knuckles turning white under the pressure.

No. He needed to focus, Eva needed him to focus. Determination set, Neil continued down the road in silence.


	3. On Hospital Time

It took some getting used to, fighting the machine process only led to headaches, the toughest hurdle new employees had to overcome.

Roxie felt the world around her slip away, the colors becoming muted and blurry before fading into a familiar inky darkness. The first thing that came to her was static. She could feel it, burning hot and tingly, yet not quite painful. Sight and sound came next, and she regretted it. Bright colors danced across her vision; cyan, magenta, yellow, green.

There were no memories here, instead they found themselves floating in what looked to be an interface. Something akin to TV static was drumming distantly in her ears, a quick glance at her partner confirmed he was feeling the same thing. His face was all scrunched up, and while she would normally tease him for such a sour expression, there was work to be done.

Navigating such a place turned out to be harder than previously thought. No matter how far they traveled it seemed as though they weren't actually moving. The only indication that they were making ground was the scattered memory fragments. Just as glitched as the surrounding environment; chunks of the office, vines stretched for miles, what appeared to be jellyfish and sharks. Roxie swore she could see stars behind the static.

They traversed in silence, occasionally she would glance at her partner, hoping to make some sort small talk to fill the empty air. But she kept faltering at his expression, distant and faraway, like he wasn't really here. It was understandable, she felt the same. The only thing keeping her anchored was the feeling of his hand in hers, she squeezed his hand and gave him a pained smile. He blinked, his expression softening slightly before becoming determined.

Something could be seen up ahead, cyan and magenta lights clashing, leaving behind strange bright glitches in their wake. The static had risen in intensity to a roar, and if this were her real body Roxie bet her ears would be bleeding, or at the very least she'd have some sort of hearing loss.

Closer inspection revealed two figures at the center of it all. The very thing the tired doctors had been searching for, Neil and Eva, their friends. Roxie felt a moment of relief at having found them, before the reality set in.

They were fighting, Eva's skin was covered in bright cyan lines, and Neil was sporting similar Magenta ones. They were hurling balls of colored energy at each other, a dangerous crackling sound accompanied every attack which made the hair on the back of her neck bristle.

"Don't make me erase that charming face" she heard Eva's garbled voice say.

"The only thing that'll be erased is your pretty face" the glitched Neil retorted, his grin maniacal.

Were they... flirting? It seemed like they hadn't spotted the new arrivals yet, their focus completely tuned on the battle.

p

img src=" . /807755c70e904db3cfa648141288fb11/tumblr_p36vopQq2Z1rm7cfdo1_ " alt="strife" /

/p

Robert looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"...Do we, uh, do we interrupt them?" Roxie turned to her partner, unsure. The air had become extremely tense, and she felt an intense instinct to run, to get away from what ever the hell was happening here, find a nice corner to curl up in and just scream. She shoved the impulse to the back of her mind, Eva and Neil needed her to be strong right now. There wasn't any time for fear-

She felt Robert tense beside her, but before she could react he practically tackled her out of the way with a shout. Something blinding white shot past her, just barely missing coming into contact with the back of her head. Raising a shaky hand, she felt a section of her hair that had been singed, white hot particles of the energy stuck to what was left. Roxie thanked her lucky stars that this was just a simulation, but still, how had it managed to-

Something like a growl, low and deep, came from the man beside her. Robert was still holding her firmly after that scare, but she could feel him shaking again. His eyes were locked on a lone figure, surrounded by a particularly bad area of glitches. She didn't recognize them, all features were obscured by grey static, yet it stood out like a sore thumb. It was the only thing gray in an ocean of neon. She shook her head, trying to get a better look.

It felt like she was on fire. Her surroundings blurred into a stark white, until nothing but the person before them remained. Then they too, faded. The last thing she remembered feeling was Robert, his grip on her shoulders faltering as he collapsed.

Then white, and burning pain. Roxie felt herself falling into nothingness. Like she was everywhere and nowhere all at once, and then, she let go.


	4. All we are is who we've left behind

Neil couldn't believe his eyes, and it wasn't just because he couldn't really see right now. He felt frozen under her gaze, breath held as he waited for her to do something, to speak, anything.

A hand still pressed to his cheek, her head turned slightly to the side, in confusion?

Like she was inspecting him.

"...Eva?"

Her hand retracted, and he took the opportunity to put his glasses back on. She was still staring at him, and he suddenly realized he'd missed seeing that deep brown. Under her unrelenting gaze, he felt his cheeks redden and looked away in embarrassment.

"What's wrong?" her voice cracked from misuse, and she blinked, taken aback by the sound.

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong it's just, you're awake, you're okay..." In relief, he was rambling, the stress of the last couple weeks taking it's toll. For right now, this very minute, he didn't even care if he told Eva everything, just that she was alright, that he could talk to her again.

Nothing could ruin this, nothing.

Eva's nervous smile pulled him back to reality, something in her eyes looked wrong.

"I'm sorry, but... who are you again?" What.

"I... it's me, Neil! Your partner?" His heart was racing almost as fast as his thoughts. Past conversations with the hospital doctors resurfaced, bad crash, trauma, brain damage...

Eva didn't remember him.

Overwhelmed by too many emotions, Neil felt himself sink back into numbness, the old coping mechanism still useful after all these years.

"Partner?" She was watching him with interest now, perking up at the thought of new information.

It took a second for him to comprehend the words, this Eva wasn't even trying to hide her curiosity. Without the weight of her memories, she was like an open book with empty pages.

It was a little more than he could handle at the moment.

"Yeah uh... you and I were, are partners. We work together at Sigmund Corp..."

Eva was leaning forward, hanging on to every word, before looking confused.

"If we work together, then why don't I remember? Why am I here?"

She looked at him like he held all the answers in the world, and for her it was true, as far as she knew he was the only person that currently existed.

"You... you had an accident, a car crash" at his words she looked down at the cast, the bruises, and seemed to understand. No further explanation was required.

"...Can you tell me what we do at... Smundig, was it?"

Neil couldn't help but grin "Sigmund, and sure" he straightened in the chair, Eva's eyes tracking his every movement.

"We're doctors, basically we traverse through geezer's memories back to their childhood, and then send a signal for them to relive their life better, instead dying sad and alone."

...

Eva asked a lot of questions, she wanted to know everything and Neil wasn't sure he had all the answers.

What he did know is that he was tired, after recounting practically all the information he knew about her past.

Which surprisingly, wasn't much. Eva was just as elusive about her past as he was.

"But what about you, I know we're partners but who am I to you?" her voice woke him up again, just enough to shift in his seat before slouching again.

"You're... Eva, my best friend..." Neil mumbled, before falling into a deep sleep.


End file.
